84 XV. FKANKENIACEiE. [Franlama. 



Var. thymoidcs. More woody, erect, and much-branched, with the habit ot Thymus valparis, 

 hoary all over, with a minute scaly indumentum. Leaves oblong, very obtuse, much revolute, 

 1 to nearly 2 lines long. Flowers rather small, the appendage of the petal-claws very prominent. 

 Ovules 4 to 6 to each placenta. — Mount Goningbear, Victorian expedition. — F. fruticulosa, DC. 

 Prod. i. 350, appears to connect this variety with the more common forms. — Benth. 



Hab.:' At the Georgina this variety is thickly, but loosely, incrusted with salt, even when found 

 growing within a stone's throw of fresh water. 



Order XVI. CARYOPHYLLE^. 



Flowers regular, usually hermaphrodite. Sepals 4 or 5, persistent, free or 

 united in a toothed calyx, imbricate in the bud. Petals either as many as the 

 sepals, bypogynpus or slightly perigynous, entire or lobed, imbricate and freciuently 

 contorted in the bud, or rarely minute and scale-like or none. Stamens 8 — 10 

 or fewer, inserted with the petals. Filaments filiform. Anthers 2-celled. Torus 

 small or in a few Sileneqi, lengthenei into a gynophore, or in some Ahinem forming 

 a sm8,ll disk, shortly adhate to the base oi the calyx, or short glands between the 

 stamens. Ovary free, 1-celled or partially divideu especially at the base into 2 

 to 5 cells. Styles 2 to 5, linear and stigmatic along the inside from the base or 

 towards the top, free or more or less united into 1 branching style. Ovules 2 

 or more, often numerous, attached to a short or columnar placenta in the centre 

 of the ovary, amphitropous and usually curved. Capsule membranous or crus- 

 taceous, very rarely succulent, opening at the top in as many or twice as many 

 teeth or valves as there are styles, very rarely indehiscent. Seeds several, rarely 

 solitary by abortion, with a membranous or crustaceous testa. Albumen mealy. 

 Embryo curved round the albumen, or rarely straight or nearly so, and excen- 

 trical, with the radical inferior, or when the embryo is circular turned upwards. — 

 Herbs, very rarely shrubby at the base, usually thickened and jointed at the nodes. 

 Leaves opposite and entire, usually connected by a transverse line or short sheath 

 at the base. Stipules none, or small and scarious. Inflorescence centrifugal, 

 usually forming a terminal leafy cyme, rarely paniculate or racemose, or the 

 the pedicels all axillary. 



A large Order, especially abundant in the extratropical regions of the northern hemisphere, 

 rather less so in the high mountain-ranges of tropical America and Asia, and in the more 

 temperate regions of the southern hemispherej very rare in hot tropical countries. Of the 

 Australian genera none, are endemic. One, Polyewrpcea, is chiefly tropical and almost limited 

 to the Old World ; aiioiher, Drymaria, is also chiefly tropical, but almost entirely American ; a 

 third, Colobanthus, is chiefly extratropical and limited to the southern hemisphere ; a fourth, 

 Stellana, has almost as Wide a raiige as the Order itself ; the remaining genera and species, 

 whether indigenous or introduced, are all European or Bast-Mediterranean. — Benth. 



Tribe I. Sllentiie. — Stpdls united in a 4 or 5-toothed calyx. Petals and stamens hypo- 

 gynous, often raised on a stalk-Uke torus. Styles distinct from the base. Stipules 0. 



Calyx broadly or obSBurely 5-nerved. Styles 2 1. Gypsophila. 



Calyx obscurely veined. Styles 2 2. Saponakia. 



Calyx 10-nerved. Styles 3 . . . 3. Silene. 



Calyx 10-nerved. Styles 5 ... 4. Lychnis. 



Tribe II. Alsineee. — Sepals free or only united by the disk at their base. Petals and 

 stamens hypogynons or slightly perigynous, the torus not elongated. Styles distinct from the base. 

 Stipules notie, or rarely small and scarious. 



Petals usually 2-cleft, 



Capsule cylindrical pr conical, opening equally in twice as many teeth as 



styles. Styles 5, opposite the sepals, or rarely 4 or 3 . . , 5. Cerastium. 



Capsule globular or ovoid, opening in as many 2-olett valves as styles. 



Styles 3, or if 5 alternate with the sepals 6. Stellaria. 



Petals entire or none. 



Sepals 5. Styles usually 3. Capsule globular or ovoid. 



No stipiiles. Petals none 6. SiEMiARiA. 



Stipules small and scarious. Petals pink . , 8. Spergularu. 



Stipules small and scarious. Leaves clustered so as to appear verticiUate 7. Speroula. 



